Midsummer Nights Dream Essays (427 words) - Hermia, Egeus, Demetrius

Midsummer Night's Dream A Midsummer Nights Dream; Theme of Love In Shakespeares play A Midsummer Nights Dream, one of the main reoccurring themes is love. Shakespeare writes of love that is passionate and impulsive, or sensible and reasonable. In Act three, Bottom, a crude commoner states on opinion of love. And Yet, to say the truth, reason and love keep little company together now-a-days; the more pity, that some honest neighbors will not make them friends. (Act III, Scene i, line 136) However, in many ways, reason and love are already much more closely linked in their society than the modern day reader is used to. Shakespeare has one example of real love in this play: Hermia and Lysander^s. Their love is pure and simple. They have no reason to be in love with each other, but yet have hopelessly fallen so. This is Shakespeare^s symbol of ultimate innocence. However, often with innocence comes abuse of that quality, as in A Midsummer Night^s Dream. Egeus, Hermia^s father, feels that Hermia is too innocent to choose her own husband, and that it is his place to choose one for her. Although perhaps he is only doing this to ^protect^ her, it shows his opinion of Hermia^s incompetence. He illustrates this value system when explains to Theseus And, my gracious duke, This man hath bewitch^d the bosom of my child. Thou, thou, Lysander, thou hast given her rhymes, And interchanged love-tokens with my child^ With cunning hast thou filch^d my daughter^s heart, Turn^d her obedience, which is due to me, To stubborn harshness. (Act I, Scene I, line 27) In many ways the opposite of real love, Hermia and Demetrius^ relationship is symbolic for practicality and sensibility. Hermia does not love Demetrius and refuses to marry him. It is not even clear what Demetrius^ motives are. One can speculate, however, that he desires to marry Hermia for her money or respectable family. Whatever the reasons, it is apparent that this relationship is quite contrasting in comparison to Hermia and Lysander^s. It seems to be more of a business arrangement than anything else. Egeus explains this to Lysander by saying True, [Demetrius] hath my love, And what is mine my love shall render him. And she is mine, and all my right of her I do estate unto Demetrius. (Act I, Scene I, line 97) With these relationships, Shakespeare illustrates the irony of love in the values of the community and culture. In this way, The reader discovers that sensible marriages are more likely to be embraced by the community than passionate ones and that Bottom^s suggestion that love should be more closely linked to reason has, form a modern reader's eye, already been followed Shakespeare Essays

Radiocarbon Dating - Reliable but Misunderstood

Radiocarbon Dating - Reliable but Misunderstood Radiocarbon dating is one of the best known archaeological dating techniques available to scientists, and the many people in the general public have at least heard of it. But there are many misconceptions about how radiocarbon works and how reliable a technique it is. Radiocarbon dating was invented in the 1950s by the American chemist Willard F. Libby and a few of his students at the University of Chicago: in 1960, he won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the invention. It was the first absolute scientific method ever invented: that is to say, the technique was the first to allow a researcher to determine how long ago an organic object died, whether it is in context or not. Shy of a date stamp on an object, it is still the best and most accurate of dating techniques devised. How Does Radiocarbon Work? All living things exchange the gas Carbon 14 (C14) with the atmosphere around them- animals and plants exchange Carbon 14 with the atmosphere, fish and corals exchange carbon with dissolved C14 in the water. Throughout the life of an animal or plant, the amount of C14 is perfectly balanced with that of its surroundings. When an organism dies, that equilibrium is broken. The C14 in a dead organism slowly decays at a known rate: its half life. The half-life of an isotope like C14 is the time it takes for half of it to decay away: in C14, every 5,730 years, half of it is gone. So, if you measure the amount of C14 in a dead organism, you can figure out how long ago it stopped exchanging carbon with its atmosphere. Given relatively pristine circumstances, a radiocarbon lab can measure the amount of radiocarbon accurately in a dead organism for as long as 50,000 years ago; after that, theres not enough C14 left to measure. Tree Rings and Radiocarbon There is a problem, however. Carbon in the atmosphere fluctuates with the strength of earths magnetic field and solar activity. You have to know what the atmospheric carbon level (the radiocarbon reservoir) was like at the time of an organisms death, in order to be able to calculate how much time has passed since the organism died. What you need is a ruler, a reliable map to the reservoir: in other words, an organic set of objects that you can securely pin a date on, measure its C14 content and thus establish the baseline reservoir in a given year. Fortunately, we do have an organic object that tracks carbon in the atmosphere on a yearly basis: tree rings. Trees maintain carbon 14 equilibrium in their growth rings- and trees produce a ring for every year they are alive. Although we dont have any 50,000-year-old trees, we do have overlapping tree ring sets back to 12,594 years. So, in other words, we have a pretty solid way to calibrate raw radiocarbon dates for the most recent 12,594 years of our planets past. But before that, only fragmentary data is available, making it very difficult to definitively date anything older than 13,000 years. Reliable estimates are possible, but with large /- factors. The Search for Calibrations As you might imagine, scientists have been attempting to discover other organic objects that can be dated securely steadily since Libbys discovery. Other organic data sets examined have included varves (layers in sedimentary rock which were laid down annually and contain organic materials, deep ocean corals, speleothems (cave deposits), and volcanic tephras; but there are problems with each of these methods. Cave deposits and varves have the potential to include old soil carbon, and there are as-yet unresolved issues with fluctuating amounts of C14 in ocean corals. Beginning in the 1990s, a coalition of researchers led by Paula J. Reimer of the CHRONO Centre for Climate, the Environment and Chronology, at Queens University Belfast, began building an extensive dataset and calibration tool that they first called CALIB. Since that time, CALIB, now renamed IntCal, has been refined several timesas of this writing (January 2017), the program is now called IntCal13. IntCal combines and reinforces data from tree-rings, ice-cores, tephra, corals, and speleothems to come up with a significantly improved calibration set for c14 dates between 12,000 and 50,000 years ago. The latest curves were ratified at the 21st International Radiocarbon Conference in July of 2012. Lake Suigetsu, Japan Within the last few years, a new potential source for further refining radiocarbon curves is Lake Suigetsu in Japan. Lake Suigetsus annually formed sediments hold detailed information about environmental changes over the past 50,000 years, which radiocarbon specialist PJ Reimer believes will be as good as, and perhaps better than, samples cores from the Greenland Ice Sheet. Researchers Bronk-Ramsay et al. report 808 AMS dates based on sediment varves measured by three different radiocarbon laboratories. The dates and corresponding environmental changes promise to make direct correlations between other key climate records, allowing researchers such as Reimer to finely calibrate radiocarbon dates between 12,500 to the practical limit of c14 dating of 52,800. Constants and Limits Reimer and colleagues point out that IntCal13 is just the latest in calibration sets, and further refinements are to be expected. For example, in IntCal09s calibration, they discovered evidence that during the Younger Dryas (12,550-12,900 cal BP), there was a shutdown or at least a steep reduction of the North Atlantic Deep Water formation, which was surely a reflection of climate change; they had to throw out data for that period from the North Atlantic and use a different dataset. We should see some interesting results in the very near future. Sources and Further Information Bronk Ramsey C, Staff RA, Bryant CL, Brock F, Kitagawa H, Van der Plicht J, Schlolaut G, Marshall MH, Brauer A, Lamb HF et al. 2012. A complete terrestrial radiocarbon record for 11.2 to 52.8 kyr B.P. Science 338:370-374.Reimer PJ. 2012. Atmospheric science. Refining the radiocarbon time scale. Science 338(6105):337-338.Reimer PJ, Bard E, Bayliss A, Beck JW, Blackwell PG, Bronk Ramsey C, Buck CE, Cheng H, Edwards RL, Friedrich M et al. . 2013. IntCal13 and Marine13 Radiocarbon Age Calibration Curves 0–50,000 Years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55(4):1869–1887.Reimer P, Baillie M, Bard E, Bayliss A, Beck J, Blackwell PG, Bronk Ramsey C, Buck C, Burr G, Edwards R et al. 2009. IntCal09 and Marine09 radiocarbon age calibration curves, 0-50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 51(4):1111-1150.Stuiver M, and Reimer PJ. 1993. Extended C14 data base and revised Calib 3.0 c14 age calibration program. Radiocarbon 35(1):215-230.

European sovereign debt crisis DURING 2010-2011 Essay

European sovereign debt crisis DURING 2010-2011 - Essay Example This was recorded to spread to Greece, Portugal and Ireland at the wake of 2009. This led to the business and the economies’ collapsing and the investors lacking confidence in these economies and this led to the further increase of the public sector debt. The public fiscal balances have faced substantial collateral damages since the 2007 global debt crisis. (Mitsopoulos, M. and Pelagidis, T. (2010) II. Background of the Crisis The crisis majorly erupted in the 2009 autumn season when there was bad governance in the euro zone as well as Greece. The roots of this had come in the previous decade where there was major borrowing in the international capital markets to fund the government budget and the current account deficit. The structural rigidities, weak revenue collection policies, strategies and the profligacy of the Greece government led to this heightened debt crisis. The newly elected government revised the budget to almost double in October. The investors were not pleased by this but the government tried to sell its bonds to the international market which fared well until the euro stat and the European union statistical agency had to go back at it and downgraded its bonds again. The nation then had a great debt in relation to its GDP. There was a weak coordination and management as regards the dealing with deficit. This was seen as the major reason why the debt was not controlled. III. Reasons behind the financial crisis The policies that were put in place were not the right ones to deal with the issue. To make the matters worse, the government wrong timing in the disclosure of the 2009 fiscal deficit to be below 10% and the proclamation that it would rise was sickening as this led to the investors lacking confidence and even lenders to be reluctant in offering loans to Greece. There was ever abundance on ambiguity in the budget lines. The budget lines were used to show the grouped spending items within the division of public administration the mana gement was seen to lack competency and inefficiency due to the ambiguity that mislead the lenders and the investors driving in more fears among them. The officials lacked the knowledge required in the evaluation of the policies against the government preferences. (Mitropoulos & Pelagidis, 2010) These programs have been progressing at a very slow tempo and have, therefore, derailed the reform programs in the health, labor culture and pension schemes and for such reasons, the country has been facing major structural unemployment in the last decade especially among the young people. This has been compensated by the GDP in regard to the feeble laws that have been imposed. (Schneider et al., 2010) On April 23rd 2010, the Greek government made an official request to be assisted by the IMF in conjunction with the euro zone countries because its statistics had shown a major crisis in its part to raise the funds to repay what they owe other countries. IV. Body Portfolio Theory and CAPM Due t o situations like the ones facing the European market, investors have come up with various ways to determine pricing of their stocks and manage their risky portfolios alike. Some of the theories used under such are Portfolio theory and CAPM. These are expounded as per the following paragraphs. Portfolio theory is a theory that is centered on the process through which any given investor can make up portfolios that maximize the

Find the thesis analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Find the thesis analysis - Essay Example Hence, society recognizes man by his power of promise to others and woman’s presence signifies how and in what manner she should be handled. Her actions are mere reflection of her presence and she has been brought up to evaluate them for the sake of man. Thus, she is an artiste and a spectator of her actions. Therefore, her existence is replaced by her presence in case of appreciation only. ‘The surveyor of woman in herself is male: the surveyed female. Thus she turns herself into an object – and most particularly an object of vision: a sight.’ (p. 47). To summarize it, a woman’s actions represent her being and a man’s actions represent his expression. Throughout history, women have been the main theme of art. Artists of different eras, concentrated on women being viewed from various perspectives and diverse surveyors. The subject of nude paintings had its social connotation. Hence, social connotation of any piece of art was and still is; vitally considerable. Traditional nude oil painting period focused its subject towards nude image of a woman hence; these paintings were aimed for the pleasure of gaze. Although, these paintings seem modest in contemporary society, but similarity to them in artistic photographs of present day, cannot be overlooked. The common theme of secular painting era remained the same. ‘the subject (a woman ) is aware of being seen by a spectator’ (p.49). Thus, nude women were painted in a single moment depiction during renaissance. Moment of shame was the manifested theme. The traditional European nude paintings showed how women have been seen and judged. The foremost Adam and Eve, Susannah and the elders, Tintoretto and Susannah, woman looking at her nakedness, are all perfect examples of gaze for pleasure. However, Judgment of Paris introduced a new concept of beauty competency after assessing nude women. Berger has also described that nude art represents social and

First Time in College Essay Example for Free

First Time in College Essay College is extremely different from high school – creating new friends, dealing with more school work, and being responsible. In some ways it can be a good thing but it can be a frightful thing as well. It is one of the biggest challenges most teenagers will encounter to be successful in life. After all those four years of high school, it is now the time to join the ranks of the high school graduates who have chosen to achieve a higher education. Some might think it is very exciting while others might have a different opinion about it. Regardless of how they feel, being able to attend college is the primary step to the real world. As what Jason Rich, author of The Everything College Survival Book, has mentioned, â€Å"This is the time when you are making that life transition from living at home with your parents to becoming an adult.† It is most likely that these intimidating words will haunt a high school graduate’s mind until the first day of college. Still, there are plenty of ways to deal with the hardships a student may face while walking into college the first time. One of the foremost things on any student’s mind is that you do not know anyone, unless you have a couple of friends that decided to take the same program as you. The thing is, so does everyone else! You can see this as the perfect opportunity to meet and make new friends that can help you get through this last chapter of your studying days. Like everybody else, many students are nervous and no one talks to anyone on the first day of classes. However, students try to overcome that fear and take a risk. In the end it will all be worth it and as each semester passes by, most of them might become the best of friends or even roommates if they live away from home. If for some reason it does not work out during the first week, try to attend on-campus events or sign up for extracurricular activities. This way you can meet and connect with a bunch of great people, not only from your program but also from the entire school. Another difficulty many students may deal with is feeling overwhelmed by the sheer volume of work they may receive during the first month. During those 30 days, the course load is much harder compared to the amount of work in high school. For example, on the first day, the professor has already designated an assignment that will be due in the next couple of classes. In addition to that, another instructor from a different class might say there will be a test on the same day the assignment is due. Hearing this right after a long summer break will definitely overwhelm a student’s mind, especially if he has come directly out of high school. Therefore, before the stress keeps piling up, students may have to find a way to make adjustments to their old study habits. A great deal of effort must be put in each of their work and must not waste time. After all, no one would spend a huge amount of money on college just to fail. In addition, going to college will expose you to brand new freedoms that require a higher level of maturity and responsibility. In comparison to high school, no one is going to check if you have done your homework or if you have studied for a major test. If the instructor says when the due date is going to be, that is the only day you can submit your work and there will be no exceptions; unless there is an emergency then that will be a different story. There is a very limited opportunity that an instructor will take his time assisting hundreds of students. Although college life is about meeting new people, it is extremely important to know your boundaries and do not let your social life interfere with your studies. Managing your time well and being able to organize properly will be a great help to be able to go through college without a problem. As previously mentioned, there are various differences between high school and college. Attending classes could become more difficult due to the unusual atmosphere and having more independence. However, despite the numerous challenges that come with having a fresh start in college, believing that you belong is the best way to overcome them. Given the time to adjust to all the changes, sooner or later, students will start to feel right at home in the new environment. College will be a way to help students shape their individuality and prepare them for the worst possible scenarios in the competitive world. Thus, high school graduates that decided to cross the bridge to attend college are one step closer to become successful in life.

Synopsis of Lines 60 - 129 of Sir Gawain and The Green Knight :: Sir Gawain and The Green Knight

Synopsis of Lines 60 - 129 of Sir Gawain and The Green Knight In this section of the poem, the New Year has just begun. King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table have attended mass, and they are just beginning a spectacular celebration at Camelot. We are told the group is participating in traditional gift-giving and feasting. The dais where Lady Guenevere and Sir Gawain are seated is described as "well-decked and duly arrayed" with silk and expensive tapestries. (Norton, 204) It seems as though no expense has been spared. The fact that Gawain is seated next to the queen tells us of his importance and high status within the group. We learn that he is a nephew of King Arthur and that Agravain, another nephew of the king, is also seated there. King Arthur does not join the others when they sit down to eat. He is boyish, restless, and full of energy. He has vowed that he will not sit down to eat at a holiday celebration until he hears a tale "of some fair feat" or " some marvel of might." (Norton, 204) In other words, Arthur behaves like a young child who must be entertained before he will sit down to eat. The poet then tells us about the first course being brought in with the "clamor of trumpets that were bravely bedecked with bannerets bright, with noise of new drums and the noble pipes." (Norton, 204-205) Other sumptuous dishes follow. There is so much food that there is scarcely room to set it all down on the tables. Food, wine and beer are plentiful, and the mood is light and festive. In this passage, the knights of the Round Table are presented "in their first age." (Norton, 203) The poet easily brings the scene of this traditional celebration to life for the reader with his detailed descriptions of the festivities.

Bantu education and source analysis Essay

1. The main aims of the Bantu Education Act were mainly (at least according to Dr. Verwoerd) to transform education for natives into Bantu education, which will teach them things they will need to know in their lives. This is stated clearly in Source A, where Dr. Verwoerd is quoted saying â€Å"Education must train and teach people in accordance with their opportunities in life, according to the sphere in which they live.† Reading between the lines, Dr. Verwoerd is saying that the Bantu are an inferior race that will never be equal to the whites, and that it would be a waste of resources and effort to try and teach them things they will never need to know. By saying the he almost directly suggests that the blacks should be kept down, as it would be absolutely ridiculous to try and teach him mathematics, for example, when all he will ever amount to is a farmer or a tailor. I In Source C it is directly stated that, as most blacks will become agriculturists, the most useful things that can be taught to them are gardening and needlework. He doesn’t even give the blacks a chance, immediately dismissing them as complete idiots whom wouldn’t even want the same type of education as the whites. Therefore, when planning the different syllabuses for all education, the black systems should be limited to very simple skills such as reading, writing, farming and perhaps very simple mathematics. We wouldn’t want to overload the blacks with information that will only confuse them and make them unhappy, now would we? According to the Commission on Native Education the blacks; knowledge of anything requiring intelligence should be barred. In another speech by Dr. Verwoerd (Source B) he states that â€Å"The Bantu must be guided to serve his own community in all respects† and:   Ã¢â‚¬Å"Until now he has been subjected to a school system which drew him away from his own community and misled him by showing him the green pastures of European society in which he was not allowed to graze†. Basically, these two  quotes state that Verwoerd doesn’t want any wannabe Europeans around. He defends his arguments by saying that it would also be unfair to continue educating the Bantu like the Europeans, as it is only showing them new horizons they will never be allowed to explore. Educating them like this would therefore create Bantu that had the skills of Europeans, and not their people. As whites into would never hire them the administrative positions their education levels demand, they would be forced to go back to their people and farming, in which they would have no skills. This would cause discontent in everyone, so it is better not to educate the Bantu at all. Apparently it would also be very uneconomic to spend money on education without a specific aim, and disrupt the community life of the Bantu. His main point behind the arguments states this: We don’t want to have the blacks interfering in our lives. Source E further supports these arguments. In this photo four black schoolboys are looking very happy walking down a road. This photograph seems very arranged to make the outside world think the South African government is doing all they can to bring light into the darkness that is the life of the Bantu. 2. Assessment of source B Source B is an excerpt from a speech made by Dr Verwoerd to the senate of South Africa on the 7th of June 1954. I think this source is very valuable, as it is a primary source from the time period. It gives us direct information about what Verwoerd said in his speech. It also tells us a bit about what kind of government was in power at the time. This can be seen from the fact that he can give such a racist speech. If someone gave this speech today, he would be severely criticized and ridiculed. At the time the speech was given it would appear that the senate would be expecting to hear something like this, and be satisfied by it. This again proves what a racist government was in power at the time of the speech. It does not leave much room for bias, except by censorship, or having some parts of the speech left out. This source is also very limited in many ways. It doesn’t tell us many things, as it is only a part of a speech. For instance, it doesn’t tell us who recorded this speech, and chose the parts to be included. We don’t know either what Verwoerd said in the parts that are not included. It would also give a clearer image of the government in power if we were told about the senate’s reaction to the speech. If they cheered madly, this would prove what a racist system was in power at the time. A tremendous help would be if we found out what happened after the speech. Were all his suggestions made reality, or were they regarded as a failed idea. I would also be very interested in finding out what inspired him to give this speech. Was he requested to give a speech on the topic, or did he himself think the time was appropriate for such an exclamation. Assessment of Source E This source is a photograph of four black schoolboys stating how happy they are, and what a good job the government are doing at getting all the Bantu into school. This photo is very valuable specifically because it is so obviously staged. This is a good example of a heavily manipulated propaganda photo. It is meant to give us the idea that all is well with blacks, and they are the happiest of all. If you dig deeper, though, you can deduce many things. Obviously the photographer has told the children where to stand and to apply a huge smile to their faces. This tells us that the South African government was concerned about their image with the outside world and human rights activists. This photo was obviously taken to soothe the minds of anyone worrying about the ill treatment of the blacks. The main limitation of this photo is we don’t know how much the photo was manipulated. Maybe the boys were walking down the street, and were told to smile while a photo was taken. Maybe the four boys were rounded up, put in school uniforms and made to walk down the street in exchange for a small payment. We don’t know. 3. In my opinion, Source B is absolutely the most useful. It really captures the mentality of the current government and the people. It tells us Dr.  Verwoerd’s opnion about the blacks and their treatment. Although he doesn’t directly announce his hatred for blacks and how he wants to shoot them all, we can see he is more concerned with the wellbeing of the European community than that of the Bantu. It is also a primary source, so chances are it has not been subject to too much manipulation. It gives us a good understanding of the government, Dr Verwoerd and how the blacks are being treated. It is a bit sugarcoated, but once you delve deeper it is obvious what they really think. I think this source is the most useful because it captures the attitudes towards the Bantu at the time.